Pharmacology

Abstract

In this chapter we shall consider how drugs get into the body; their fate within the body; how they are eliminated; their time course within the body (their pharmacokinetics); and also the general mechanisms by which they produce a response (their pharmacodynamics). In addition, we shall cover some of the reported differences between adults and children with regard to the fate and effects of drugs in the body. To date, these have been confined mainly to pharmacokinetic differences. This topic is naturally one of the more technical and does require some knowledge of high school biology and chemistry. We shall cover the general principles, but also some of the more technical aspects (mostly for prescribing physicians) will be addressed. These may be skipped by those seeking only some basic understanding of how drugs work.